I've been hearing a lot of bad talk about dermal punching on ear lobes and I wanted to share my story which has been anything but bad, if fact I am very happy with the results.

I recently got a 6g dermal punch on my left ear lobe and for weeks beforehand I scoured the internet on advice on the different ways to get stretch ears/gauges and I heard a lot of bad opinions on dermal punching and I would like to say I have no complaints. The piercer punched the hole at a smaller gauge then put a taper in to stretch it to a 6g and told me not to take the taper out for a week. The first night my ear was a little sore and there was no blood or swelling. The only scare I had was when I accidentally bumped it and it bled for a bit a few days later but by the morning all was good. The end of the week came and I took out the taper, cleaned the hole and put in a clean screw tunnel which has been in my ear for the past month. I've cleaned around it 2 times a day and I let water wash over it in the shower. I can sleep on it fine with no pain or discomfort. My goal size is 2g and I'm about ready to get my other lobe done soon...at 2g. I don't plan to stretch my ears any bigger than a 2g. All in all I'm very happy with the results of my one ear so far and am looking forward to completing the other side. I honestly believe there is no right way or wrong way to get your ears stretched, just do the research, think and plan it over, find a good piercer and take good care of your freshly pierced hole.I took special care of my piercing, I never played with it or touched it un-necessarily and all is fine.

Sorry, but there is no reason to dermal punch an earlobe when they make needles at that gauge. 8G-6G needles are very common, why couldn't they have just pierced you at that size? Also, a good piercer would know that a taper is NOT good jewelry for healing; they shouldn't even be left in fresh stretches, let alone a fresh piercing.

Not trying to criticize you or anything, but if you had that done without problems that's just luck. It doesn't mean dermal punches and healing with tapers are good for lobes. It's much better to get pierced with a needle and proper jewelry.

The reason dermal punches are so awful for lobes is because they remove tissue, which makes it very easy for your lobes to thin in the future. Piercing needles do not remove any tissue (some people will insist they do but they don't) so you can keep it all for stretching. Punches should only be used on hard tissue like cartilage that can't be stretched easily.

You probably won't run into any problems since your punch was so small and you don't plan on stretching past 2G, but if you decide to go bigger you might notice some thinning. Hopefully everything will go smoothly for you. Pleeeease do not get your other ear punched at 2G... get it pierced at a large gauge like 8G-6G (by a different piercer) and stretch up. If you get that ear punched at 2G when the other ear has only been punched at 6G you'll end up with one ear thinner than the other.

I'm Lindsay.I have 1/2" lobes and 11 piercings: left helix x2, both conches, both nostrils, septum, navel, and VCH.My lobes are small but I know a lot about stretching and how to do it safely, so message me if you have any questions!

It's still much better to have a piercing at any size than a dermal punch in an earlobe. I mean, 10G and even 6G are very small so if you're not stretching to huge sizes you're probably not going to run into many problems. However, dermal punches remove tissue while piercing needles do not so needles are always better for soft tissue that is easily stretched. The only time I can see dermal punching a lobe being a good idea is if the person has a big lump of scar tissue that will interfere with stretching.

Are you sure it was a dermal punch and not a 10G needle? You rarely see punches that small, and I didn't think many piercers were willing to do punches on lobes in the first place.

I'm Lindsay.I have 1/2" lobes and 11 piercings: left helix x2, both conches, both nostrils, septum, navel, and VCH.My lobes are small but I know a lot about stretching and how to do it safely, so message me if you have any questions!

corazon_de_oro wrote:Are you sure it was a dermal punch and not a 10G needle? You rarely see punches that small, and I didn't think many piercers were willing to do punches on lobes in the first place.